VoIP and RFID party down in Japanese dressing rooms
Full points for effective buzzword usage here: Japanese department chain Mitsokoshi is implementing a new system in their dressing rooms that allows patrons to scan RFID-tagged items and then use a VoIP phone to check inventory and call for other items to be brought. The whole system is tied into Mitsokoshi's Point Of Sale system to have real-time info on inventory, and since most of the system is based on Cisco phones the installation costs about $700-800, instead of $20,000-25,000 for a similar setup based on touchscreen kiosks. When an RFID-equipped clothing item is scanned, different sizes, colors and similar product show up for selection on the 5.6-inch touchscreen of the phone, and picking up the phone to call for help is a bit more discreet than shouting out your ever expanding waist size over the dressing room wall. The setup is being provided by Litescape, who claims to be already demonstrating to US retailers such as Abercrombie, Home Depot, the Gap and Virgin Mega -- so maybe we won't have to be too far behind Japan in this regard. Go USA.
[Via RFID in Japan]
